How to find a missing tenant’s new address
Sometimes finding where a runaway tenant has gone to can be really hard. If they’re not willing to pay rent arrears and don’t want to be found, you’ll need to go through the tenancy tribunal – collections department process.
However, you can’t start this without an address to serve the court documents to. Here’s some suggestions for avoiding the problem in the first place or dealing with it if you do get caught out.
A tale of two tenants – handling tenant complaints
Being a property manager is always a challenge dealing with properties and people. The nature of properties is that things will malfunction from time to time. Sure some problems can be minimised by keeping up your maintenance like cleaning your gutters and inspecting drain gullies regularly. However, things do still fail, like burst water pipes and so forth. Landlords need to educate tenants about leaks and other issues so repairs can be attended to before property damage occurs.
DBH improvements to services
The Department of Building & Housing have made some significant improvements to their services since the middle of 2011. They would like feedback from property investors all over New Zealand as to how they are coping with the changes and any suggestions would be welcome.
Young lovers still get an eviction
I was lining up an eviction last week. The tiny flat looked cold, lonely and uninhabited. I stood outside hopping from foot to foot trying to keep warm and trying to make up my mind. Do I wait till Friday and get the bailiff or have the tenants already run off? Banging loudly on the front and back doors produced no response. The shivering neighbours said they had not seen the young couple for a few days. I unlocked the back door for a quick peek only to discover the young lovers in bed. Oh dear, that is not the way the DBH guide book says to do it!
Tenancy Agreements: pay attention to the details!
Getting the details right on a tenancy agreement can be the difference between winning a tenancy tribunal case or being taken to the cleaners. Several times over the years, I’ve had tenants claim that they weren’t on a fixed term tenancy when the agreement clearly showed they were. Without all the proper paperwork in place, you won’t have any evidence to support your story and tribunal cases quickly go against a landlord who isn’t prepared!
Crime & Tenancy Law
Normally the criminal activity of the tenant will impact on the tenancy and in some cases, the landlord will need to either seek assistance from the Police or provide assistance to the Police. I have recently had some interesting events that called for a joint approach between the landlord and the Police. I think you will be interested in what happened. What happens when your tenant turns out to be a criminal using a false identity? How can you avoid this in your tenant application process? Find out here!
Renting to a teenage tenant
Every thing seemed to go ok for a couple of months. The rent was being paid and the surruptitious drive-bys I did seemed to confirm that the house hadn’t been reduced to a pile of rubble! Then it all went wrong. It wasn’t a call from the tenant or their Mother, or even a inspection that alerted me. It was a call from a concerned neighbour. Gah.
How to choose a good tenant
Choosing a good tenant isn’t easy. They have the potential to be a great custodian of your property or your worst nightmare! Getting it right means being prepared in advance to avoid problems later. Read on to find out more and get my free tenant application forms.
